Crashed and alone on a world mankind tried to leave behind, Darkout challenges players to survive on Illuna, in harsh, procedurally generated biomes, utilizing the game’s sandbox features to build shelters, craft weapons, and research new technologies. You are not alone.

We’ve been pretty busy over the last few months and in that time I’ve seen a few posts asking on progress and new players asking on the current state of the game, etc. So I thought I would just take some time out and update everyone on where we are and what is happening with Darkout. This will include: where it will go, and when. If you don’t feel like reading everything there is a brief summarized version at the bottom.

As most of you know we had a pretty rocky release on Steam but we got most of those issues sorted out within the first couple weeks. We changed the interface a little and tweaked some stuff that was bugging players in general. That was Stage One.

Since Stage One’s release we have added and changed a ton of content which you can see in the patch notes on either:
•Steam Community Patch Notes
•Darkout Forums Patch Notes
If we hadn’t decided to move the game to Unity then every subsequent stage would have seen a complete corruption of current player worlds due to how the code was implemented in Torque.

Stage Two: The game is basically there, there are only a few things we still wanted to add before going to Stage 2, beyond what was added in the patches since launch. What are they you may ask? Well…
•An extra Biome (We’re limited by current code set which would corrupt all player worlds)
•Next chapter in the story (Biome dependant)
•New enemy (Requires new Biome)

Hard Times: Yes, we have been hit with some hard times, and even though we have earned a ridiculously low amount of income from this for the efforts we put in, we’ve persevered for more than a year after launch of stage One.

We need every cent to keep working, but unfortunately most purchases have come in while the game has been on sale, which unfortunately keeps the funds down to a trickle. Don’t get me wrong, we’re extremely grateful to everyone that have supported us this far but unfortunately ‘sales only’ can’t fund any game’s development.

Funding: There have been suggestions on multiple occasions that we should start a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to finish the project, and we’ve actually thought about doing something like that for a long time. What holds us back is the fact that we don’t want to just ask for more money for Darkout, which you already own and paid for, and we don’t have any marketing budget at all to help spread the word beyond our current fanbase. We know some of you would not hesitate to help out, and that thought alone reminds us why we started Darkout in the first place. It was never about making a lot of money, rather, it was an effort to bring a game we are fiercely passionate about to a wide audience, improving and refining it along the way.

We had to think about this problem for a while and have come up with a few solutions, one or two of which that make sense and we plan on executing.

Step 1) Stages 2-4 will be paid DLC.

Initially we had planned to increase the games price with each new stage, with those who bought in early getting them for free, however now we have decided that with the requirement for more funds to complete the game we will need to release Stages Two – Four as paid DLC. Obviously, Stage Two will include the full Unity port of the game and then Staged Three – Four will expand and complete the story mode of the game.

Step 2) Something New

We’ve been faced with dwindling man power and a very extended development cycle on Darkout’s Unity port. This has been alongside the process of updating the original Torque version of the game over the last 13 months, which, we know is a requirement but if we’re honest it’s also a bit of a backpedal. Faced with the fact that we have been receiving most of our funding through the severely discounted sales periods and bundles we took a step back and thought about how we could generate more funds to eventually finish Darkout and not disband before that.

Solution = New game with short development cycle!

So, for the last few months we’ve brainstormed over some ideas and formulated ways to pull them off with the limited team and resources we have, and we started working on a new project currently codenamed: ‘Darklings’, official name TBA.

The game is set in the Darkout universe, but with completely different gameplay. It is still a 2D game but this time we are telling things from the side of the Shadow Creatures. We’ll reveal more about Project Darklings as development progresses. We are leveraging many existing assets in order to do this, ensuring we do not disrupt the necessary changes for Darkout and the best part: we’re building it using Unity!

We know that those of you who have stuck with us this long really believe in Darkout and what we still want to do with it,and we are hoping that we can count on your support in order for us to deliver the game as we have always envisioned it to be.

We aim to be more open with development starting with this press release, as well as posting more frequent weekly updates on our web and social media sites. Previously, our quiet has been a reflection of putting our effort towards finding real-world solutions to our complex situation and while this may not be the best answer, it’s the most honest one.

We don’t have the resources to put into a Kickstarter via marketing funds, ad placement, etc, and will be creating a donation link with a counter on our main website for anyone who wishes to support us early and get the game and future DLC at significantly reduced price.

Thank you for your time and we greatly appreciate your continued support and patience.

Allgraf

Summary/TL:DR: We’re still making changes to Darkout and our recent radio silence has been a result of investigating funding options to get there. We’ve decided that the best course of action is to create a companion game, currently codenamed: Darklings.

This will be a game where you take control of the Shadow Creatures from Darkout. It will require a much shorter production cycle and we will be building it using Unity to improve the distribution.

Funding received through the sales of this new game will help us finish Darkout. However, we’ve decided that regardless of this that Phase Two through Four will be paid DLC.

We’re incredibly grateful to all the fans that have stuck with us over the years. Thank you for your support and know that we’re doing our best to get you the game you deserve. There will be a donation button on the website soon if you want to contribute to the cause and receive early-access to the new game.

Reviews

“Darkout is an enjoyable experience that is truly immersive as it is beautiful”
8/10 – GamingBolt

“To those people who enjoy to build and survive, this game will not be one that disappoints.”
4/5 – OnRPG

“This is one of the latest iterations in sandbox gaming with several mechanics that improve the genre. It’s not a clone of a preexisting game and it presents some unique features that gamers will come to love”
B – Gamefob

Steam Greenlight

Future development plans & DLC

Future development plans & DLC

With your support we aim to release more DLC for Darkout to expand on the universe, Biomes, Gameplay, Items, etc.

We are currently busy porting the existing game over to Unity 5 which enable us to add everything we have envisioned for Darkout.

There are 3 DLC stages planned and we will reveal all the details of these plans as we develop the game further, not unlike our predecessors in the Sandbox genre.

DLC Details

More Story

More Biomes

Underwater Biome, Sky Base, Feral Jungle, etc

An End Game

Fix the Ship or Illuna? Only time will tell

More enemies

The Penguin Drones

More bosses with each Stage

Survivors

Dead, alive, evil, good?

Underground Bunkers / Labs

Unique treasures, enemies, stories

Vehicles

Sub, Mech, and?

Weapons, Devices, rewards, achievements, etc!

Please Visit our Forums and Social pages to keep up with development

About This Game

Crashed and alone on a world mankind tried to leave behind, Darkout challenges players to survive on Illuna, in harsh, procedurally generated biomes, utilizing the game’s sandbox features to build shelters, craft weapons, and research new technologies.

You are not alone. Light-sensitive creatures prowling the landscapes become most active at night and in a world shrouded by clouds the security of day will never come, instead, twilight periods allow players minor security to explore, rebuild, and gather resources.

Darkout’s deep history manifests itself through logs left behind by others, some recent, while others hearken back to long-extinct natives of Illuna, offering glimpses into what events led up to the pandemonium that now persists.

How will you survive?

Current Features

Explore expansive randomly generated worlds

Sandbox Play

Fight Shadow enemies sensitive to Light.

Strategic Research & Crafting System

Mining, gathering & looting.

Tons of resources, materials and devices you can use to...

Create various kinds of weapons, armor, tech, furniture, etc.

A story for those who like to do more than just explore, craft and build.

System Requirements

Minimum:

OS: Windows XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7

Processor: Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo 1.3 Ghz or Better

Memory: 2 GB RAM

Graphics: OpenGL Graphics card that can display at least 1024x768 res (Nvidia 8000 series or better)

Generally I don’t write reviews, but this game has become a special kind of irritating.

On the positive side, the game is indeed very pretty and the soundtrack sets the mood well. The general sandbox activities of building and resource gathering are interesting, particularly wiring your base with power and lights.

Sadly that is where the upside stops. When I originally purchased this game in beta most all of the things you can now find in the “Future development plan & DLC” were to be included in the game by the time it was released. Especially the story and an ending for the game. An immersive story for a 2D sandbox was one of their main features at that time. However, now the designers have fallen on hard times and have decided to break those promises due to their need for funding. Additionally, work has effectively stopped on this game while they attempt to make a similar companion game to get more funding to finish this one. This information, along with a much longer explanation, can be found on a recent post of theirs on the official forums along with a passive suggestion that it is the purchasers fault for buying it on sale.

I realize beta is a fickle thing and you might not always get exactly what you expected. This goes well beyond that however in my opinion. To be realistic, this game by the standards of their original plan is still in beta and was simply rushed to release in an attempt to gain further funding. I whole heartedly recommend against this purchase. The DLC may never arrive at this rate and most of it was originally supposed to be in the actual release. It strikes of an unethical approach to development even if they had the best intentions to start with which is suspect at this point.

I Do not recommend this game any longer based on fact they want to resell me a product I already payed for. My example is below.Step 1) Stages 2-4 will be paid DLC.

Devs: I want to sell you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.Zomzabib: OkayZomzabib buys sandwichTeam Darkout hands Zomzabib two pieces of bread.Zomzabib: Where is the PBJ?!?Devs: Do not worry It is coming in stages.Zomzabib: Okay thanks.Many moons later..Devs: We are sorry Zomzabib, because we underestimated our sales of sandwiches we now have to charge you again for the Peanut butter and jelly we already sold you.Zomzabib: Okay Team Darkout, let me take out my wall......WHAT!! Charge me for the same thing twice...Zomzabib throws his two pieces of bread on the floor and walks away.

The first impression I had after looking at Darkout’s screenshots: it’s beautiful! Actually playing the game proved that screenshots didn’t lie: Darkout is by far the most beautiful game in 2D sandbox exploration/building genre, and while I believe that graphics isn’t that important, great graphics like this certainly adds to enjoyment.

Graphics aside, Darkout has decent crafting and building system; there is a fair (but by no means spectacular) selection of decorative items to craft, and some interesting features, like research system or necessity to connect most advanced work stations to your base’s power grid.

Overall, Darkout has interesting early to mid-game. Finding resources and progressing can be quite challenging, as even early enemies can be deadly when you are poorly equipped, and environment itself can present hazards like long falls or deadly tar pits. As you progress through the game, however, the challenge diminishes, not increases: while you start encountering stronger enemies, their strength increase doesn’t match your stronger weapons and armor, and eventually even hardest areas become a walk in a park with late-tier sword and armor.

Aside from drastically diminishing challenge, as you keep playing you will eventually find Darkout rather lacking in variety: there are only 3 surface biomes, not counting very small and very empty coastline biome, and flying islands biome that looks the same as surface jungle biome (other than being composed of flying islands, naturally). There are several different underground layers, but only major difference between them is the music and what kinds of resources you can find there. Also, there is only one boss, and it can only be fought after a rather long questline.

In the end, despite its flaws, Darkout is a good enough game, and if you are a fan of 2D sandbox exploration/building genre, Darkout will likely give you many hours of enjoyment.

Avoid this! It's not finished, it's buggy, the Studio is considering DLCs for the content that was supposed to be already done, Donations and even make a new game (which will turn out to be another failure). Terrible. I bought it 2 years ago believing it was done but nope. I feel stolen. Just buy it in an U$D 1,00 Bundle.